Tom Hanks Reveals One Secret To Being A Grandpa Is Making Mac & Cheese "Just Perfectly"

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson both give off good grandparent energy, and with good reason. The couple have three granddaughters, and they’ve figured out the secret to being excellent grandparents. One of those secrets is apparently making their macaroni and cheese exactly how they want it. This is also the secret for every person everywhere, but especially grandchildren.

Hanks and Wilson share two sons, 32-year-old Chet and 27-year-old Sullivan, as well as Hanks’ 45-year-old son Colin and 41-year-old daughter Elizabeth from his first marriage to Samantha Lewe. Colin Hanks is dad to two little girls, 11-year-old Olivia and 9-year-old Charlotte, with wife Samantha Bryant, while Chet Hanks has a 7-year-old daughter named Michaiah with ex-girlfriend Tiffany Miles. Their three granddaughters are apparently so engrossing that they don’t even need the television on when they’re around.

“All you gotta do is love those little brats and they're better than TV,” Hanks told Entertainment Tonight before quickly correcting himself. “They're not little brats, they're extraordinary young women.” Wilson, who has been married to Hanks since 1988, added, “They are extraordinary young women,” and went on to share the secret to being good grandparents.

“You got to get on the trampoline with them, you got to get in the pool with them, you got to get on the tennis court, you got to do all the sports,” Wilson explained. “You just got to hang out.”

For Hanks, the secret is even simpler than that. “You have to make their macaroni and cheese just perfectly.”

Hanks and Wilson might think they have this whole grandparenting thing on lock, but Colin Hanks gave his own opinion to TODAY last October. “It would be great if they paid attention to the kids’ bedtime,” he said at the time before saying his daughters were not big fans of their grandparents’ cooking. But don’t worry, they’re getting plenty of sugar during their visits to see Hanks and Wilson like typical grandparents. “They need like good ugly sweater vests,” Hanks said at the time of their stereotypical grandparenting style. “Like if they both had those and just some glasses and complained about the temperature, I think we’d be good.”

Macaroni and cheese, trampolines, and grandparents who think you’re better than television. These grandkids have it made in the shade.